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When he’s not busy touring with Roger Daltrey, the 80-year-old guitarist has often sounded optimistic about what comes next for The Who, including the 50th anniversary celebration tour (which was postponed and rescheduled several dates and recently kicked off at Long Beach, California). But the time spent on tour also “can be lonely” for Townshend, the guitarist said.

“I’ve thought, ‘Well, this is my job, I’m happy to have the work, but I prefer to be doing something else,’” he said. “Then I think, ‘Well, I’m 80 years old. Why shouldn’t I revel in it? Why shouldn’t I celebrate?”

These two divergent points of view from Townshend coexist with the overall relief of being alive. It’s complicated when you’ve spent your whole life touring, he acknowledged, even though music and touring “saved our lives.” The Who is just one part of what he and Daltrey do — the music they make and the history they’ve created has evolved into something much larger and more important to honor.

“I feel that it’s a brand rather than a band now,” Townshend said. “We’ve got a duty to the music and the history. The Who still sells records and the Moon and Entwistle families have become millionaires, so we have got to carry that on and do it well,” he said of Moon, who died in 1978, and John Entwistle, who died in 2002. “There’s also something more, really: the art, the creative work, is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”

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The extensive North American tour is a 17-stop run that begins at Long Beach, California, and will continue into September. This, of course, won’t be the last time we see Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, but with both artists close to 80, the time on the road can be tiring.

“When you’re young and in your prime, you can do two months’ work on the road and it’s not that bad. You have your highs and lows. But when you get to our age, it’s relentless,” Townshend said in a 2019 interview. “The downside is just being on the road and not being with your family.”

Touring with Daltrey, for instance, took a toll on Townshend’s family life. His daughter, to Townshend, who died of cancer in 2003, had “tantalizingly” close to being able to see her father on the road, “but it was still not quite there,” Townshend lamented.

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Even with more open-ended time, there’s a limit to the toll on health and family life that Daltrey is willing to live with. “I have been in limbo until now in some ways about continuing because it’s impossible to do this job and lead a normal life,” he told The Times in the United Kingdom. “How can I justify asking my family and my friends to just disappear every time? I just can’t do it, so that’s where I’m at.”

When on stage, however, Daltrey said things are less cloudy. “It’s a no-brainer when we’re up there because the energy that Pete gives is unbelievable, and he just drives me on and on and on,” he told the Associated Press. “I’m up there absing the time of my life, thinking: ‘Please, God, just don’t let it end yet. ‘”

Fans are in for a treat, as Daltrey said they can expect “all the things that you have ever heard us play and many things you have never heard us play.” For Daltrey, he said the energy of the fans is what makes the Who special. “What’s great is that we are fuelled by the audience. They love the connection. We have a unique connection.”

As such, Daltrey isn’t sure if The Who will ever be able to put on another tour. “We are trying to think of the end of the road for the next two years. I don’t know,” he said, adding, “The Who to me is very perplexing. I don’t know where the Who goes from here. I never have, to be honest with you.”

Daltrey, who spoke to The Times last month, has also looked back on more challenging times. On a recent stop on the tour, he reflected, “We were really green and very young. I just remember being quite sick a lot of the time because we were so young, playing in Germany in the black market.”

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At 80, Daltrey knows that his body has to follow his head. He remains proud of his health. “My voice is still as good as ever,” he said. “I keep seeing specialists and having treatment and doing the exercises, and I just feel more able to hit the notes I’m supposed to hit.”